For months now the Connecticut Democratic Party has had a tracker armed with a video camera following Republican Sen. Andrew Roraback around the 5th District. Now a labor-backed Super PAC is spending more than $200,000 on a television ad attacking him.
The Patriotic Majority USA PAC plans to run an ad criticizing Roraback, who is one of four candidates vying for the Republican nomination, in next Tuesday’s primary.
Roraback is the convention endorsed Republican from Goshen. The advertisement, which is not yet available online, is expected to be called “No Friend.”
“Nothing could be more flattering than to have Democratic operatives spending lavishly in an effort to throw the Republican primary election in order to take out the one candidate they know can’t beat them in November,” Roraback said Wednesday.
The Super PAC typically spends money on U.S. Senate candidates and it’s unclear why they’ve decided to target Roraback prior to Tuesday’s primary.
Requests for comment were not immediately returned.
Roraback speculated that since the PAC is closely aligned with organized labor it could be an independent expenditure on behalf of Democratic candidate Chris Donovan, who is in a heated three-way Democratic primary.
Donovan has received most, if not all, of the support of organized labor in the state. None of his supporters have withdrawn their support even after his former campaign manager and finance director were arrested by federal authorities for allegedly trying to hide the source of campaign donations.
However, even if the Super PAC expenditure is being made on Donovan’s behalf, the PAC is not able to coordinate with Donovan’s campaign.
Meanwhile, Roraback is being outspent by two of his Republican opponents, Lisa Wilson-Foley and Mark Greenberg, who both have largely self-financed their campaign to the tune of $685,000 and $1.4 million, respectively. Justin Bernier is the fourth candidate in the race.
A veteran state lawmaker this is Roraback’s first time running for Congress and the amount of money it takes to be competitive can be intimidating.
He tried to draw a parallel to the Olympics.
“Such conduct would certainly be illegal in Olympic competition, but sadly in American politics today, there appear to be no rules,“ Roraback said. “I am investigating every tool at my disposal to hold these Democrats accountable and to have these false and misleading ads taken off the air.”
